Scripps Proton Therapy Center medical director hired

Scripps Clinic Medical Group has hired a medical director for the $220 million Scripps Proton Therapy Center now under construction in Mira Mesa.

Dr. Carl J. Rossi Jr. will join the medical group on Jan. 2 to become the first medical director for the proton center, which is due to open in spring 2013.

Rossi is chief of genito-urinary and lymphoma radiation oncology services at Loma Linda University Medical Center in Riverside County, which operates the oldest of the nine proton therapy centers currently operating in the country.

Rossi has treated more than 9,000 prostate cancer patients with proton therapy at Loma Linda and conducted a number of studies on the procedure, according to a news release.

He has worked at Loma Linda for 20 years and is an associate professor of radiation oncology there, and has been facility director of Loma Linda University Radiation Medicine in Ridgecrest for 19 years.

At the Scripps proton center, Rossi will be responsible for recruiting and training the clinical staff, overseeing patient care initiatives, developing clinical trials and collaborating with other cancer care providers and researchers.

Scripps Clinic Medical Group will oversee medical services and Scripps Health will provide clinical management at the Scripps Proton Therapy Center, which is being developed by Advanced Particle Therapy of San Diego.

The center is designed to treat up to 2,400 patients a year.

Proton therapy, approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2001, more precisely attacks cancer cells than traditional X-rays by focusing a beam of energy on a tumor while limiting damage to surrounding tissues.